South Along the Coast

(San Blas, MX - Barra de Navidad, MX)

Saturday night in San Blas was fairly uneventful. We did some people watching in the plaza and watched the drag queen parade but decided not to attend the actual competition. It was a little past our bedtime and a bit more expensive than we would have liked. The boys did look fantastic though. We said goodbye to our friends in San Blas on Sunday and headed south To Puerto Vallarta.

The ride down the coast was nice but a little busy and we arrived in the city shortly before dark. The newer parts of PV to the North are ridiculously posh and expensive, lined with high rises and shopping malls, but we found the Old Town area to be fantastic. For anyone looking for accomodations in PV, just drive all the way to the south end of town and you will eventually see the sign for the highway south to Manzanilla and a winding road leading up the hill. Now backtrack two blocks to the street named "Francesco l. Madero" and you will find an abundance of nice, cheap hotels about a 7 minute walk to the ocean front. We stayed at the Hotel Azteca for $27 US and it was great. Hot hot water, big pretty courtyard, and safe street parking (or at least that's what one of the locals told us). They also have a 24-hour front desk person with street-views.

Yesterday we stopped by the hotel Barcelo in Mismaloya to see if Corrina and Jason had arrived yet and were told they wouldn´t be in until the evening. The hotel is beautiful and their wedding on Friday should be incredible. Sorry we missed you guys and I hope you got our note. Congratulations on the marriage and have a wonderful time!

We continued down the coast and had lunch in a very small town named Punta Perula that was Spectacular! The beach was empty and the bay pristine. I even did a couple hot laps on the sand with the KLR. She handled the soft stuff just beautifully. (Grace's Note: A car drove by on the sand as we were eating lunch, and Adam said "Whoa". I thought he was pointing out yet another Canadian flaunting their flag, but then he said, "You can Drive on the beach?" and already had one boot on.)

We made it down to Barra de Navidad just as the sun was setting. It was a nice one and we had to pull over for some photos. The breeze off the water was perfect, and we enjoyed a few minutes of silence before moving on in search of a hotel. We unpacked our stuff into Hotel Sarabi (the cleanest accomodations we've seen yet!) cleaned up and found our friends Mark and Natalie from Orcas who were staying in the hotel next door. The cerveza´s flowed from then on and we quickly decided to stay another day and relax.
Today has been nice and mellow, mostly lounging and swimming at the beach. Tomorrow we´ll probably head South down to Zihuatanejo, and from there inland to Oaxaca.

For now though, it's time for a shower and maybe a nap.

Photos:
1) Dinner in San Blas on Saturday
2) Drag Queen Parade
3) Creatures of San Blas: Moth?
4) Lizard
5) Teenie little Frogito
6) Hillside leading South from PV just outside Hotel Azteca
7) Street taco stand (We ate lunch and dinner at one of these)
8) Hot Laps in Punto Perula
9) Soaking it up
10) Sunset on the pacific with cute bobblehead doll in foreground
11) Pretty nice I´d say
12) Marc, Natalie, Grace and AT in Barra de Navidad